Louisville guard Hailey Van Lith enters transfer portal

Louisville’s Hailey Van Lith has entered the transferportal.

The star guard, who finished 12th all-time in scoring at theschool with 1,553 points, will graduate in May, earning her degreein finance in three years. She has two years of eligibility leftbecause of the COVID year.

“We thank Hailey for her contributions to this program, thisschool and this community,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz saidSaturday. “She has done everything we have asked of her over thepast three years, and we wish her the very best in her finalcollegiate season and beyond.”

Van Lith’s final game was close to her home in Washington, wherethe Cardinals lost to Iowa in the Elite Eight. Van Lith scored 27points in that 97-83 loss. She averaged 19.7 points, 4.5 reboundsand 3.2 assists per game this season.

“It’s been an honor over the last three years to have had theopportunity to pour my passion and heart into Louisville,” Van Lithwrote on Instagram. “This city has impacted my life in so many waysand helped shape me into the person I am today. The Louisvillecommunity has given to me selflessly. I will never forget yourunwavering support.”

Louisville picked up transfer guard Jayda Curry from Cal earlierthis week. Aneesah Morrow of DePaul, who was a second-teamAll-American, announced her plans to transfer on social media. Sheaveraged 25.7 points and 12.2 rebounds this season.

Van Lith, Morrow and Curry are three of the big names that haveentered the portal this year. There are just under 1,000 Division Iwomen’s basketball players in the portal as of Saturday morning, aperson familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. Theperson spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because many ofthe players haven’t publicly announced their decisions totransfer.

Stanford’s Lauren Betts, who was the consensus No. 1 high schoolrecruit last year, is one of those players in the portal who hasn’tpublicly announced her decision to transfer. The 6-foot-7 centerplayed in 33 of the Cardinal’s 35 games this season, averaging 5.9points and 3.5 rebounds in just under 10 minutes a game.

Transfers had a big impact on the NCAA Tournament that was wonby LSU last Sunday. Angel Reese, who was named the Final Four MostOutstanding Player, transferred to the Tigers from Maryland andAlexis Morris came to LSU in 2021 after spending time at Baylor,Rutgers and Texas A&M.